1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to rotors. More specifically, the present invention relates to spinning reel rotors that are rotatably attached to a reel unit of a spinning reel, and which wind fishing line around a spool.
2. Background Information
Spinning reels usually include a reel unit, a rotor and a spool. The reel unit is mounted to a fishing rod. The rotor is mounted rotatably to the reel unit and is for guiding the fishing line that is wound on the spool. The rotor includes a rotor unit and a bail arm that is pivotably attached to the rotor unit. The rotor unit has a cylindrical portion (example of a support portion) rotatably mounted to the reel unit, and first and second rotor arms mounted in opposition to one another and extending outward in radial direction from the rear of the cylindrical portion. The two rotor arms have first and second connection portions that are disposed in opposition at the rear end of the cylindrical portion and first and second arm portions curving from those connection portions and extending frontward at a certain spacing to the cylindrical portion. The cylindrical portion has at the rear end a ring-shaped large diameter portion, whose diameter is larger than the other portions, and the pair of connection portions that extends outward in radial direction from opposing positions on the outer peripheral surface of the large diameter portion.
The bail arm guides the fishing line to the spool, and includes a first bail support member mounted pivotably to the tip of the first arm portion, a second bail support member mounted pivotably to the tip of the second arm portion, a line roller mounted rotatably to the tip of the first bail support member, and a bail made of a piece of wire linking the line roller and the second bail support member.
Among this kind of rotor, rotors that are known, have the first and the second connection portions that are made long in the rotation direction, with at least one of the first and second arm portions being provided with an aperture. By making the two connection portions long in the rotation direction, a high stiffness can be maintained for the two rotor arms in the rotation direction. Furthermore, by providing the arm portion with an aperture, the rotor can be made lighter and provided with an unconventional design. In spinning reels equipped with a rotor having such an aperture portion, the arm portion with the aperture is conventionally covered from the outside in radial direction with a cover member.
When the arm portion with the aperture is covered with a cover member as described above, it would seem to be possible to devise different types of reels having different degrees of exposure of the aperture afforded by the cover member. For example, some cover members might cover the entire aperture, while other cover members might expose at least a portion of the aperture or expose the entire aperture.
However, varying the degree of exposure of the aperture in this manner leads to discrepancies in the mass of the cover member depending on the degree of exposure. Accordingly, there is the risk that the rotational balance of the rotor may be balanced with one cover member, but unbalanced with another cover member.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a spinning reel rotor which overcomes the above mentioned problems in the prior art. This invention addresses this need in the prior art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.